watch urbane lte

The LG Watch Urbane 2 was exciting when it was announced, since it was the first Android Wear device capable of working as a stand-alone mobile gadget with a built-in LTE connection. Then it wasn't, because LG delayed the launch after an unspecified (but apparently quite serious) hardware defect. Now the launch is back on: AT&T announced its pre-order plans earlier this week, and now it's Verizon's turn. The carrier is taking pre-orders now, with watches shipping (and presumably ready at retail) on April 1st. No foolin'.

A lot of money, as it turns out. While the AT&T version of the Watch Urbane 2 is $360, or $200 with a two-year contract, the Verizon model is a whopping $499.99 outright.

LG reached out to us moments ago with news that the company's upcoming smartwatch, the Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE, has been canceled due to an unspecified hardware issue. There is no word at this time if the device will be released at a later date, but for now, LG is calling this a full-on cancellation of the launch.

We understand that you are currently reviewing our latest smartwatch; however, late in the quality assurance process for the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE, our engineers were made aware of a hardware issue which affects the day-to-day functionality of the device.

Version 1.4 of the Android Wear app started rolling out late Friday. The theme of this update, at least for what's currently live, is a set of changes to the Settings screen. There are a couple of new options, but they come at the expense of the battery stats screen. A look under the hood also shows that a few other features are either live or in the works for the next Wear OS update.

It was rumored that LG would be launching a cellular-connected Android Wear watch soon, and well, here it is. The Watch Urbane Second (or 2nd) Edition is the first Android Wear device we've seen that uses a cellular connection instead of a Bluetooth connection to a smartphone or a local Wi-Fi network, much like Samsung's Gear S series or LG's own Watch Urbane LTE (neither of which ran Wear). Aside from the addition of a mobile connection, it's a round screen watch presumably using at least some of the same hardware as the older Urbane.